Kelowna mother sets up sunscreen dispensers to educate the community – Kelowna News

Ian Jacques / Delta Optimist – May 19, 2023 / 4:31 pm | Story: 427729

Photo: Delta Police

Police are asking for the public’s help as they try to locate a missing Okanagan man who was travelling to Delta.

On Friday (May 19), Delta Police received a missing person report concerning, 86-year-old Edwin Patton.

He is described as a Caucasian male, 5’10” tall and approximately 175 pounds, with balding, grey hair, blue eyes, and wearing a light blue jacket, blue jeans, and a grey baseball cap that says ”Grump” on it.

He travelled from Lake Country to Delta on May 18, but failed to attend a friend’s residence as planned. He also has not returned home to Lake Country. He was confirmed to be in Tsawwassen on Thursday, May 18 at 2:40 p.m., but has not been seen since.

He does not have a cell phone and has no previous missing history. He is driving a Blue 2008 Toyota Matrix with BC Licence plate 544DCH.

If you locate or see Edwin, please remain with him, call the Delta Police at 604-946-4411, or your local police. Please quote Delta Police file 2023-11477 when you call.

“We want to ensure Edwin is okay and reconnect him with his worried loved ones,” say police.

Photo: waymarking.com

A business that’s been operating in Kelowna for 33 years is closing up shop this weekend.

The Army Surplus Warehouse has been operating at its location at Dayton Street and Dolphin Avenue in Kelowna’s Landmark District since the 90s, well before the Landmark buildings had been built.

Albert Siemons served as a soldier in Holland when he was younger, before he moved to Canada. He first opened an army surplus wholesale business in Tsawwassen, before moving to Kelowna and opening up his own retail store.

Siemons is now 76 years old. While his daughter Sandra says he he loves his store and his customers, he’s decided to retire.

“A lot of people are really sad to see it go,” Sandra said.

The store will be open from 12-5 p.m. on Saturday for one final day.

Photo: BC Gov

The Columbia River basin

Kelowna served as host for negotiating teams from the United States and Canada for the 17th round of talks towards a new Columbia River Treaty.

The two-day session May 16 and 17 covered topics like hydropower operation planning and integrating Canada’s desire for greater flexibility into treaty dam operations, according to a release from the provincial government.

Indigenous representation, environmental and salmon impacts and flood-risk management in the U.S. was also covered.

The delegations toured the Okanagan Nation Alliance’s hatchery near Penticton and took part in a sockeye salmon release.

Representatives of the Syilx Okanagan, Ktunaxa and Secwepemc Nations are part of the Canadian negotiation delegation, along with the Government of Canada and the Province of B.C.

“These events gave both teams the chance to learn about efforts being led by the Okanagan Nation Alliance and U.S. Tribes to restore the historical range and abundance of sockeye salmon in the upper Okanagan watershed, Okanagan Lake and Skaha Lake systems,” said the provincial government news release.

Canada and the U.S. first agreed to the Columbia River Treaty in 1961.

Photo: Rob Gibson

A Kelowna man is taking his fight to cancel Jordan Peterson’s Kelowna show to city hall.

Brent Forder started a petition to cancel Peterson’s performance on May 26 at Prospera Place, collecting just under 1,500 signatures.

The petition also attempted to organize protests against the show, and on Friday, about a half dozen people showed up at city hall, despite already being told by Mayor Tom Dyas that the Peterson event will proceed.

“The mayor has indicated that he’s not interested in cancelling the event. So we’re transitioning towards just more general activism against bigotry. We’re gonna be trying to put it as an item on the agenda for the next Tuesday meeting, which is currently open to the community to submit input,” Forder says.

Due to the long weekend, there will be no Kelowna council meetings until June, after the Peterson event. Kelowna council also has no ability to cancel the event, which takes place in a privately-owned building.

Forder has started a new website to promote kindness called healinghate.ca, “we hope to be sort of a hub for anti-bigotry, activism and communication in Kelowna.”

Most tickets for the event sold out within days of going on sale, although there are still some higher-priced tickets available.

Controversy has surrounded Peterson ever since he began criticizing political correctness and Bill C-16 while he was a professor at the University of Toronto. The law added gender identity or expression to the list of prohibited grounds of discrimination in the Canadian Human Rights Act.

Peterson responded to Forder’s petition with a tweet stating, “I’ve been cancelled by better people than this sorry lot. Virtue-signaling censorious narcissists.”

Forder responded to that tweet on Friday, “he actually diagnosed me via tweet as a virtue-signaling censorious narcissist… We feel that he uses his power to kind of punch down and to inflame tensions and flame hatred and keep marginalized people marginalized.”

A petition in support of Peterson has also been launched, which now has more than 1,700 signatures. A UBC Okanagan professor told Castanet earlier this month the controversy and duelling petitions about the show visit were “ridiculous,” what what is essentially a book tour for Peterson.

Photo: Castanet/file

For 59 years, Rutland was bustling with activity around the May long weekend as the community celebrated Rutland May Days.

Midways, children’s games, sporting events, entertainment and the popular may days parade brought friends and family together for a three day celebration around Centennial Park.

COVID-19 changed all that.

The festival, like others around the world, ceased in 2020 and 2021 due to restrictions around the pandemic.

And, while restrictions were lifted in time for 2022, organizers didn’t have enough lead-up time to put together the festival, hoping at the time to be able to resurrect Rutland May Day this year.

However, the Rutland Park Society, which puts together the festival each year announced earlier this year Rutland May Days would be cancelled for a fourth year.

“Following the tumultuous past few years, it is currently not possible to put on an event deserving of the name,” the notice stated.

“Rutland truly has the greatest heart, and it is important to remember that as we look at possible ways to come back in future years.”

Park society treasurer Wendy Swarbrick told Castanet News a lack of volunteers is one of the main reasons the festival will not be returning.

“Like a lot of other organizations and communities, logistically speaking having big events that require volunteers and things like that, are becoming more and more difficult,” she says.

“I know a lot of festivals, even those that have tried to come back, are really struggling. It’s a very unusual economic time for sure.”

Swarbrick also says the city is not allowing the society to utilize Centennial Park, which has traditionally been at the centre of Rutland May Days.

She says the park society continues to talk about ways of resurrecting may days and the hope is it can be brought back.

Photo: YLW

WestJet customers and the Kelowna International Airport Manager are breathing a sigh of relief Friday.

WestJet is ramping up operations as quickly as its can after reaching a last-minute deal with the airline’s pilots to avert a strike late Thursday evening.

“It was a big relief,” said YLW operations manager Phil Elchitz. “A big relief for the passengers and for the industry as a whole.”

Because WestJet took measures in advance of the potential strike, some flights were outright cancelled on Thursday, which minimized the impact on passengers Friday.

“We saw four legs cancelled on Thursday, and two legs cancelled today, and those were all pre-emptive cancellations. The biggest one being the Swoop flight to Toronto today. That flight will be rescheduled and the balance of the schedule, from what we can see is going to go ahead as planned,” Elchitz said.

Passengers who haven’t received a cancellation notice for the air carrier should double-check their departure.

“If the flight hasn’t been cancelled, or you haven’t been rebooked on on another flight, most likely your flight will be going there’s no reason why your flight shouldn’t go,” Elchitz said.

YLW also launched its own customer care centre that they plan to activate in the event of future travel issues, like weather delays or other issues that impact air passenger travel.

“If we see a prolonged weather event, for example, that’s going to happen over a busy period, that’s when we would stand up the customer care centre and staff it with YLW staff members that have some power when it comes to helping the passengers,” Elchitz said.

Photo: Castanet/file

Kelowna taxpayers will find out just how much they will be paying in municipal taxes in the coming days.

The city says 2023 tax notices have been sent out and should arrive in your mailbox sometime next week. Taxpayers registered with a city property account have already received their notices.

The municipal tax bill, which includes a 3.78 per cent increase in city taxes, also includes levies collected by the city on behalf of the province, regional district, Okanagan library and BC Assessment Authority.

Taxes must be received by the city, or electronically processed by a third-party financial institution by Tuesday, July 4 to avoid a legislated 10 per cent penalty.

For the first time, the city is accepting payments by credit card, however officials note payments made by credit card or banks could take up to three business days to be processed. With July 3 being a holiday, the city is recommending people make those payments early to avoid a late penalty.

A 2.3 per cent transaction fee will also be applied to any credit card payment.

Property owners eligible for the provincial home owners grant are reminded they are responsible for applying for the grant.

Click here for information on how to apply for the home owner grant.

There are several ways to pay your 2023 taxes, including:

• By cheque using the drop box located at the main doors at city hall
• By mailing cheques to city hall (Post-dated cheques are accepted. However, the postmark date is not considered date of payment).
• Through online or telephone banking with a financial institution (Third-party processing can take up to three business days).
• In person at your financial institution.
• Credit card online at kelowna.ca/onlinebilling (a 2.3% transaction fee will apply).

Rob Gibson

Environment Canada says there were 1,191 lightning strikes in the Thompson-Okanagan Thursday and more could be on the way this weekend.

Environment Canada meteorologist Bobby Sekhon says they are calling for the heat and unsettled weather to continue Friday and throughout the May long weekend.

“Tomorrow is going to be a day to watch for sure. We do have some risk of thunderstorms in the forecast for today, mostly on the ridge tops, but starting tomorrow, we do have more of a risk, especially in the Okanagan,” says Environment Canada meteorologist Bobby Sekhon.

Temperatures are expected to hover around 30 C before cooling down possibly by Monday. Environment Canada is calling for possible thunderstorms Friday over the ridges in the late afternoon, followed by a 60% chance of thundershowers on Saturday.

The rain would help douse any fires that may have been sparked by Thursday night’s lightning storm. However, it could also cause some flooding issues.

“A lot of hazards this weekend, we have thunderstorms tomorrow. We know a lot of rivers are flowing high in the area after downpours and thunderstorms. So definitely, there’s concern on the waters, as well. It’s kind of a multi-hazard weekend,” said Sekhon.

BC Wildfire Service fire information officer Melanie Bibeau tells Castanet the spotters will be in the air this morning looking for spot fires.

“Typically with lightning, if you get any of that holdover, it’s going to pop up in the afternoon when the temperature starts to rise.”

A small spot fire above Bear Creek Campground is believed to have been started by lightning Thursday night. That fire was held by Wilson’s Landing Fire Department shortly after it started.

“We will have an initial attack crew monitoring and providing any necessary action on that fire today,” says Bibeau.

BCWS is preparing for what could be a busy long weekend and they are asking for the public’s assistance to prevent human caused wildfires.

“We’re asking that people practice awareness and are being responsible if they’re planning on having any campfires or taking part in any outdoor activities,” Bibeau said.

Environment Canada said smoke in the area should continue to dissipate over the long weekend.

“The jet stream is at a very high level, but even just below the jet stream, those winds can bring in smoke. But we’re generally seeing a better pattern for clearing the smoke. We’re gonna get into more of a westerly component, it’s usually a cleaner wind coming in, as opposed to the easterly are going to bring in all that smoke from the wildfires,” said Sekhon.

Photo: Jennifer Bray

A Kelowna woman sustained a split lip, among other injuries, when she was randomly attacked while walking with her partner.

Police are investigating a random attack Thursday night at the Willow Park Shopping Centre in Rutland.

Tony Bray, 25, tells Castanet he and his girlfriend Ariyana Fortin, 23, were walking near the shopping centre at Highway 33 and Hollywood Road at roughly 5:30 p.m. when a man started yelling and following them down the street. Bray says things quickly turned violent.

“All of the sudden this guy started calling me vulgar names and then started wailing on me. He punched me in the back. It was really out of nowhere. I tried to walk away and he started chasing me down,” said Bray.

“We were just walking out of Willow Park walking towards McDonald’s and he was near the bike rack at Shoppers Drug Mart. I tried to ignore him, but he started punching me so I started punching back. And then he punched my girlfriend in the face. Twice.”

According to Bray, the assault left them both with physical welts as well as mental trauma. The couple is currently at home recovering while the man who assaulted them was able to get away before police arrived.

“We were a little scared and a little mad at the time. Now, we’re scared to even go out in Rutland. We’re pretty shook up and really sore. I have bruising on my back from his knuckle, as well as my right shoulder blade,” Bray said, adding Fortin has a cut lip, bruised arm and pain on the side of her jaw and cheek.

Tony’s mother Jennifer Bray, who’s spent her whole life in Kelowna, says the area is becoming less and less safe.

“It’s not safe at all. I’m born and raised here and it was not like this before. And now it’s just scary. I’ve told my other son who’s 18 that I don’t want him walking by himself. I will take him wherever he needs to go. Right now it is not safe,” said Jennifer.

The man who attacked Tony Bray was reportedly spotted yelling and screaming at a group of middle school students prior to the assault.

“Watch out. Be careful of your surroundings. This guy was stalking them and it was like he was out to do some damage. People need to be aware of it,” said Jennifer.

The Kelowna RCMP confirmed that the attack was witnessed by bystanders at the shopping centre. They described the man as roughly six-feet tall, Caucasian with black plugs in his ears, a sharp nose, wearing yellow and black clothes.